(South Bend, Indiana) The Saints faced a rough match against the visiting Scarlet Hawks of Illinois Tech during the last home game for seniors Brooks McDonald (Spring Lake, Michigan), Jaime Genis (Elkhart, Indiana), and Damian Marciniak (Michigan City, Indiana).

Holy
Cross' own Executive Vice President Dr. Tina Holland hosted a wonderful
pre-game ceremony honoring the collegiate careers of all three seniors.

The
Saints competed in their final home game of the 2011 season Wednesday afternoon
and hosted an aggressive team from the Illinois Institute of Technology
(10-6-1).

Both teams displayed great ball movement and passing, and both
squads hustled the entire length of the field.The Scarlet Hawks opened the scoring in the 4th minute when Graeme Port found a hole in the Saints' defense and slipped a ball by Saints goalkeeper Damian Marciniak.

The
Hawks then found themselves the beneficiary of a questionable call on Marciniak in
the 19th minute and were awarded a penalty shot, which Tech's Robert Rixer made
to give his team a 2-0 advantage.

With
two minor plays, the Saints were looking into a 2-0 hole not even halfway
through the first half. The Saints gained momentum during the remainder of the
half, and had some good scoring chances from well-played crosses deep in the
Tech zone.

An
early dagger to the Saints came in the 33rd minute, when freshman Alexander
Clarke was ejected from the game on a red card for his sliding tackle in the
offensive zone. The call created controversy from both benches, but ultimately
head coach Rhett Zych's squad had to play a man down for the next 57 minutes.

The
call proved to be costly almost immediately, as Rixer tallied his second goal
of the game for the Scarlet Hawks just 46 seconds later. Rixer was a
thorn-in-the-side for the Saints defense all afternoon with his intense speed,
as the forward also runs the 200-meter dash for Tech.

Tech
added a marker in the 62nd minute, after Holy Cross had been putting pressure
on Tech goalkeeper Jared Svaldi. Holy Cross finally beat Tech's defense in the
73rd minute when Niko Jelicic (Sucuraj, Croatia) threw a ball up for junior
Luis Delgado (Lexington, Kentucky) who finished the job and put the Saints on
the board.

The
Saints did all they could in the final 20 minutes to keep the rally going by creating some scoring chances off hustle plays and smart ball handling, but could not get
any closer. Tech tacked on an insurance goal in the 78th minute to put the game
out of reach for good.

The
seniors shined in their final home game, as Marciniak displayed a number of
diving stops, and stonewalled a few Hawks on the doorstep in the second half.
Brooks McDonald made his money patrolling the midfield as usual, and made plays
on both sides of the field that created openings for teammates and prevented
breakaways. Jaime Genis showed his speed and tenacity on the outside, putting
pressure on the Hawks keeper all afternoon, and was very disruptive on defense.

Zych
will not overlook the contributions the trio made to the team their entire
careers, as he will lose three starting players that understood what it meant
to play Holy Cross soccer.

"I
can't say enough about the seniors," said Zych after the game,
"Brooksie, Jaime and Damian came to play everyday and played with heart,
determination, and class...and I wish them all well in the future."

Holy
Cross has one more date remaining on its schedule - an away match against Robert
Morris College - on October 29th at 5:00PM.